Pakistan imposes emergency and governor's rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

On 11 October 2026, President Asif Ali Zardari approved the federal cabinet's recommendation, made under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, to impose emergency and governor's rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under Articles 232 and 234 of Pakistan's Constitution. The decision suspended the PTI-led provincial administration of chief minister Sohail Afridi. The federal government said the provincial government had deliberately disengaged from counterterrorism despite a worsening militant threat. Governor Faisal Karim Kundi and an advisory council took over provincial administration; the provincial assembly was not dissolved. PTI and other opposition parties called the move an attack on an elected mandate.